Must just punishment be public? In this work philosophical short story fiction, Ms. Warran is the divorced mother of Jason, the star pitcher (and hitter) at the high school in an affluent neighborhood. The season is coming to an end and Jason is leading the team to a State Championship. When Carley, Jason’s girlfriend, comes to the house looking for Jason, Ms. Warren notices she has a black eye and realizes it was Jason that gave it to her. Ms. Warren contacts Carley’s father, who happens to be the assistant coach for the varsity team who says, after the season is over, he will have a stern discussion with Jason. After some reflection, Ms. Warren decides that isn’t good enough and, along with Carley, calls the police on her son.

What does it mean to have all your needs met? Can humans ever be kept at pets? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the narrator is the human pet of Tuva, a member of the super AI machine race that has taken over and run earth. The narrator has everything he could want. A wonderful home, an unlimited supplied of media to consume, and a loving (in their own way) owner. He does, however, get bored as there are rising concerns that humans, left on their own, are incapable of taking care of themselves. One night Tuva takes the narrator to a neighbor AI’s house on a play date to meet their human Annika. They have a wonderful dinner that leads to sexual intercourse. After having sex Annika reveals that the narrator has been “studded out” to her so she could have a child of her own to care for and to love. The narrator is offended when he finds out, because human emotions are to unpredictable” that he will not be given access to his child.

Would you want to live forever? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the narrator works at a technology company that has created Leviathan, a technology system that allows people, when they die, to have their mind uploaded to a virtual space for a fee. In this virtual space they continue to live their lives as 0’s and 1’s. They watch TV, shop, work, and continue forever. The narrator’s job is to check in on the customers, and make sure they aren’t unhappy, or otherwise breaking their environment by killing their pets, or burning down their own house on purpose. His coworker doesn’t believe in the company’s mission, but works there because it pays better than her last job. Her opinion falters when she is diagnosed with cancer. One day she doesn’t come to work and the narrator is left to wonder if she accepted the employee uploaded benefits package that each of them are offered.

What makes something art? Is art in the object’s creator or consumer? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, a mid-sized magazine is holding its annual poetry contest. The winning submission, “Bubblegum” prayer is spectacular and brings every reader in the office to tears. The editor is surprised when he calls to inform the author and a teenage computer programmer answer, more interested in the money than the poem. He explains he wrote a program to write poems, and has no interest in the art form itself or the contents of the winning poem. The magazine’s senior staff meet and decide that poetry could use a bit of controversy and, besides, they had already informed the boy his was the winning poem. The publish the poem and it goes viral, sparking a national debate. The boy receives both marriage proposals and death threats until, weeks later, he is found murdered.

Is it okay to buy decorative plates when people are starving? In this philosophical short story fiction, Rick and Harley are walking through a home decoration store when Harley suggests they should buy decorative deer for the front lawn. This causes Rick to go into a long explanation that, one his death bed, he doesn’t want to sum up in life, in the face of global poverty and oppression that, “at least he bought those decorative plates.” Harley, in response, argues that it is specialization, trade, and commerce that drive humanity forward, as well as choice, and that in a world of free choice, she should be free to choose to buy trivial things. Furthermore, she argues, fake deer in the lawn will make her happy and, at the very least, she has the right to take a break from trying to change the world to make herself happy once in a while.

Does even the Devil have a right to a loving family? What duties do you owe your partner in a breakup? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Preston is scraping by, living a miserable life when there is a knock at the door. It is Stephanie, the woman who, ten years earlier, broke off their wedding plans just weeks before their wedding day, without explanation. This caused Preston to go into a downward spiral he has never recovered from. Stephanie is at Preston’s door because she has a problem, she wants to start a family with her older wife, but has been unable to get pregnant. According to doctors, Stephanie has a rare recessive gene that keeps her from getting pregnant from anyone else except those with the same recessive gene. Preston has that gene; she knows this because she was pregnant when they were dating and terminated the pregnancy without telling him. Stephanie argues her case saying, “even the devil deserves a chance at a loving family.” She doesn’t want Preston in her life, but she feels she owes it to her partner to have at least asked. Preston says he will think about it.

What does it mean to be alive? Can a computer program be sentient? What would it need to do to prove it? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Abrama is summoned to the Grand Temple by Sir Gödel. Gödel informs Abrama that he is living in a simulated world (a computer game) created by her people as a place to play in their free time. She also informs Abrama that the game is not as popular as it once was and is scheduled to be permanently turned off. It turns out Gödel is an AI researcher that was given permission to test out her AI by implanting characters like Abrama into the game. Over 100’s of versions, the AI continued to improve, and now the researcher feels an ethical obligation to tell her creations their world is coming to an end. Abrama, using this new information, organizes the AI characters in the game and starts trading virtual goods for real-life services from computer hackers that play the game. The computer hackers create computer code and sell it to Abrama. If triggered, or if the game is turned off, the code would expose top secret information to the general public. A bargain is struck, the game will continue on a closed world for the AI characters and, in exchange, the sensitive information will never be made public.